Thinking about buying an iPod

[Guest The Gecko]

I bought an MP3 player back around Christmas time and I'm not satisfied at all with it. It doesn't hold as many songs as I expected, and it seems as far as song space goes, an iPod is the best bang for your buck. Being the ignorant fool I am, I know nothing about iPods or Mp3 players in general.

 

So help me out here, would it be a good purchase? Or is the a better alternative route?

[Guest Evolution]

Honestly, going the way of Napster's subscription service seems like a much stronger idea if you're looking to hold a ton of songs. I'm pretty sure if you look on reviews.cnet.com, you can find MP3 players that will offer the hard drive space and the iPod feel without having to pay 99 cents a song. If you're looking to hold a lot of songs fast, Napster just seems like the right choice.

 

Maybe the commercials are misleading, though.

[Guest The Gecko]

you can find MP3 players that will offer the hard drive space and the iPod feel without having to pay 99 cents a song.

I was under the impression, and maybe I'm wrong, but you can add songs to an iPod without having to pay 99 cents a song. I have a large music collection, so I'd be transferring most of my songs from CDs that I already own.

 

If I'm completely wrong, someone please let me know.

[Addy 0]

I have an iPod and had already put my whole CD collection my PC months prior to owning my iPod.

 

You're able to transfer them to your iPod and don't have to do the $1 a song thing.

 

With iPod you just use 'iTunes' which has a simple 'drag-and-drop' interface for your files.

[Guest The Gecko]

I have an iPod and had already put my whole CD collection my PC months prior to owning my iPod.

Yeah, I have all mine on my PC as well.

 

So do you like your iPod? Was it a good purchase? Have you had any problems with it? Tell me more.

[Styles 0]

I'd like some information too. I'm thinking of getting one too for the same reason, mostly to transfer my CD collection onto one little ipod would be nice, could take my songs with me anywhere, not have to change CDs, etc.

 

What are the differences in the various models? My friend said he bought one at Costco for like 80 bucks that hold thousands of songs, but at least on ipod's website they're like 200 bucks. What's the standard price/storage?

[BUTT 0]

iPod Shuffle 512 MB - $99

iPod Shuffle 1 GB - $149

iPod Mini 4 GB - $249

iPod 20 GB - $299

iPod 20 GB Special U2 Edition - $349 (comes with a certificate $50 off "The Complete U2", a collection of over 400 U2 tracks available on iTunes)

iPod 40 GB - $399

iPod Photo 40 GB - $499

iPod Photo 60 GB - $599

 

That's what Apple charges if you buy directly from them. I'm not sure what they cost elsewhere.

[Guest The Gecko]

What's the standard price/storage?

I looked into that a little. And there are 3 main types of iPods.

 

1.) iPod Shuffle - the newest iPod, its basically like a flashdrive MP3 player, has not LCD screen, and doesn't seem very user friendly to me. Goes for about $100.

 

2.) iPod Mini - smaller version of original iPod that has a 4GB hard drive. This is about 1,000 songs. This version goes for about $250.

 

3.) iPod - the main model, which comes in 20GB (about 5,000 songs) and 40GB models. The 20GB runs for about $300 and the 40GB is about $400.

 

I was thinking about getting the iPod mini originally, but then I realized the 20GB model is only $50 more. So now it seems like the mini is sort of a rip-off.

[Guest ShootingStylesPress]

The Shuffle's whole idea is that you get the whole "surprise" deal for when you listen. You don't know what's coming next. I think it's lame and I'd buy another MP3 player, as there is lots of competition out there.

 

My friend has a Dell DJ. Beautiful piece of work.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I have the Nomad Zen Xtra 30GB MP3 player from Creative, and I really like it. I think they sell for about $199 new. It is slightly bigger than an iPod, but seems like a good lower cost alternative. The software it comes with is good and pretty user friendly, and I was able to quickly burn a good chunk of my CD collection onto it. Also, from what I understand, the sound quality it offers is superior to the iPod.

[Guest The Gecko]

Found some alternatives to iPod and some prices for comparison:

 

Dell DJ - 20 GB - $224

 

Creative Labs NOMAD Jukebox Zen Xtra - 30 GB - $219

 

Rio Karma - 20 GB - $199

 

Apple iPod - 20 GB - $299

[Eclipse 0]

I wanna get an iPod, but will it be able to transfer the songs? I read something about it needing USB 2.0, the newest USB interface. I bought my PC in 2001. Would it work?

[sfaJack 0]

Creative Labs NOMAD Jukebox Zen Xtra - 30 GB - $219

Go for the 40 GB model, if it's available in your area. I picked one up at Best Buy this past Friday, and it was only $10 more ($229) than the 30 GB model. I've been rather pleased with it thus far in the limited time I've had to play with it.

 

It just doesn't make much sense to me to pay almost $100 more for an iPod while getting half the storage space Creative gives you.

[UZI Suicide 0]

I wanna get an iPod, but will it be able to transfer the songs? I read something about it needing USB 2.0, the newest USB interface. I bought my PC in 2001. Would it work?

You need USB 2.0 or Firewire.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

The iPod is fantastic. You can put any mp3 on it. I've never bought a song on iTunes and I have nearly 4000 crammed onto my old-school 20 gig model. Rip or download everything at 160 or 192 and it'll sound great.

 

On sound quality: the headphones that come with the iPod are lame. The way to get better sound quality isn't to get a Creative or Dell player; it's to get good headphones. Hardware differences for sound are marginal. I use a dinky Sony athletic pair for on the go, and a nice $65 pair of Sennheisers when I'm at home.

 

On price: you won't find iPods for lower than the regular price in any retail store, so just mosey down to your nearest Best Buy or whatever and buy one. The only exceptions I've seen are

 

1) buy a computer from Apple, get an iPod on the cheap with the deal, and

2) as a student or faculty member, buy one through a major university's computer store. Most knock 10% off the price.

[Eclipse 0]

Damn, that sucks. I am guessing that goes for ALL mp3 players then? (USB 2.0 or FireWire)

[tominator89 0]

I think the issue here is: do you want a portable MP3 player or an iPod specifically?

 

If you want a portable MP3 player then explore the competition and decide which model is more suited for your needs. If wanting to have an iPod specifically is your idea then be prepared to overspend. Not that they are bad, but price is certainly an issue.

[tekcop 0]

I have a 20 gig IPod. We've become pretty close friends in the past.

[Guest DVD Spree]

The Creative Zen Micro kicks the shit outof iPod Mini in every respect – battery life, capacity, looks (nine colours or whatever it is)… but Jesus, I've been through three of them now and had to send them all back. I've only seen one that actually works – I buy three of those fuckers and all three of them had a serious fault. Shame. Damn shame.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Honestly, going the way of Napster's subscription service seems like a much stronger idea if you're looking to hold a ton of songs. I'm pretty sure if you look on reviews.cnet.com, you can find MP3 players that will offer the hard drive space and the iPod feel without having to pay 99 cents a song. If you're looking to hold a lot of songs fast, Napster just seems like the right choice.

 

Maybe the commercials are misleading, though.

Yes, the commercials are misleading. If you stop paying a monthly fee, your songs go poof.

 

Furthermore, all the players play unprotected MP3s, so the fee-based services are only for people who insist on their music being legal. The only legal music I have on my hard drive is stuff from CDs I own, or the occasional song that I've either listened to so much that I've become guilty, or I really like the artist and bought the music to support them.

 

But still, the vast majority of music on the world's iPods and assorted other players come from the dark side of the internet.

 

I'm just going to go through the posts on this thread answering questions and stuff. I may repeat something twice, but oh well.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

you can find MP3 players that will offer the hard drive space and the iPod feel without having to pay 99 cents a song.

I was under the impression, and maybe I'm wrong, but you can add songs to an iPod without having to pay 99 cents a song. I have a large music collection, so I'd be transferring most of my songs from CDs that I already own.

 

If I'm completely wrong, someone please let me know.

Download iTunes and give it a try. It's not only the program you use to put music on iPod (although alternative non-Apple programs exist that have other features), but a lot of people consider it the best MP3 player out there. I know I switched to it from Napster when it first came out for Windows.

 

Sadly, 4.7.1 Windows is rather buggy. You'll need it if you want an iPod Shuffle, but look around for 4.7 if you plan not to buy one.

 

Anyway, iTunes provides an interface for playing songs, buying songs from the store, adding songs to iPod, and copying CDs. When you put a CD in, iTunes recognizes it, downloads the title and track info from GraceNote, and lets you import it.

 

The import options vary from MP3 to old formats like WAV and AIFF (yikes) to the lossless format FLAC, which create huge files that have perfect CD-quality audio. The default choice is AAC, which is a format supported by iPod and iTunes (music from the Music Store is copyright protected AACs) that sound better than MP3s at similar bitrate. Yes, they do, no it's not just a matter of preference. Audiophile publications have done analysis and found that AAC does have better quality.

 

MP3 importing is useful, of course, if you plan to share your music with other people.

 

At this point, 50% of my music is AAC, thanks to CD importing. Huzzah.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

The Shuffle's whole idea is that you get the whole "surprise" deal for when you listen. You don't know what's coming next. I think it's lame and I'd buy another MP3 player, as there is lots of competition out there.

 

My friend has a Dell DJ. Beautiful piece of work.

The iPod Shuffle does in fact have a normal rotation function. Although Apple is heavily marketing the shuffle random play, you can indeed set your music in a playlist in iTunes and play it in order. The only thing is, since it doesn't have a built-in interface, that you have one playlist order for all your music.

 

But yes, you can listen to songs in the order you want to listen to them.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Rio Karma - 20 GB - $199

 

Apple iPod - 20 GB - $299

Aside from a few iRiver models (and they have so many that I can't keep up), Karma is the only real competitor to iPod. It also supports .OGG music files that the audiophile crowd is getting more and more interested in. It has some base with an Ethernet jack that operates as a web server and lets you control what it's playing by remote. There's basically a bunch of inventive features on it that don't exist on any other player.

 

The main downside I remember of it is that if you want to use it as a portable hard drive and put non-music on there (i.e. put on text files, AVI movies, programs, whatever) you have to use a mover utility to copy it to the drive, whereas with iPod and others the drive shows up in My Computer as a removable external drive recognized by the Windows interface.

 

A Karma II is rumored to be coming at some point, but there's no real concrete information about it.

 

For the love of God, do not buy anything from Creative. Dell has a bit better future going for them, but is still catching up.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

On price: you won't find iPods for lower than the regular price in any retail store, so just mosey down to your nearest Best Buy or whatever and buy one.

The "iPod + hp", an iPod co-branded Apple and Hewlett-Packard that's aimed at Windows users, does often have some good discounts going for it. This is because HP, not Apple, sets the pricing. Aside from the materials in the box and an HP logo engraved on the back, it's the exact same as the regular 20/40GB iPod models.

 

If you want a non-regular iPod, however, or if you're one of those people (like me) who have a fanatical obsession with Apple Computer Inc, you might not be as happy.

[Dimensions 0]

Hey.

 

I recommend the Zen Touch.

 

I bought it last summer, 20GB model, and it kicks a lot of ass.

 

Right now, if you buy it through Creative you can get it for 249.99 and the 40GB model is 329.99.

 

It's a bit lighter and a tad smaller than the IPod.

 

Link to the product is: Creative Zen Touch

 

Beautiful interface. Suppoesdly 24 hour battery life but I get around 20 hours of continuous play. I'm always using it.

 

The one main drawback is that it doesn't support as many files types as the IPod. Just supports .mp3 and .wmv music.

 

To get music on it, you use the Nomad Explorer which is just drag and drop stuff.

 

Good luck.

 

Cheers.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

Anybody who has a 20/40 gig iPod, how much battery life do you get with a single charge?

[UZI Suicide 0]

Damn, that sucks. I am guessing that goes for ALL mp3 players then? (USB 2.0 or FireWire)

You can buy a USB 2.0 or Firewire port that plugs into your computer and your MP3 player.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Anybody who has a 20/40 gig iPod, how much battery life do you get with a single charge?

As I mentioned earlier, my iPod is from the first wave of PC ones, back in December 2002. A charge for me usually gets me about 6-7 hours if I let it go the whole time, but I usually charge it every other day or so and never have to worry about it.

[Guest The Gecko]

Rip or download everything at 160 or 192 and it'll sound great.

What software do you use to rip MP3s at 160 and 192??

[tominator89 0]

I use dBpowerAMP for all my ripping needs.